Just Finished Reading: Daughter of Deep Silence

Daughter of Deep Silence
by Carrie Ryan
To be published by Dutton Juvenile
on May 26, 2015

Summary from Goodreads: I’m the daughter of murdered parents. I’m the friend of a dead girl. I’m the lover of my enemy. And I will have my revenge. In the wake of the devastating destruction of the luxury yacht Persephone, just three souls remain to tell its story—and two of them are lying. Only Frances Mace knows the terrifying truth, and she’ll stop at nothing to avenge the murders of everyone she held dear. Even if it means taking down the boy she loves and possibly losing herself in the process.

My take: The title and cover of this are a bit of a mystery to me -- though the typography is lovely. The title sounds like a possible sequel to Forest of Hands and Teeth and Dead Tossed Waves.  The cover says ... artist's model? 1920s period piece?

Nope and nope. This is a revenge thriller. And, if you can get over some minor suspension of disbelief issues, it's a pretty good one. Daughter of Deep Silence reads like a cross between Titanic (the movie) and Revenge (the show.)

Four years after her harrowing escape from death aboard a luxury yacht, Frances arrives at an exclusive coastal community prepared to exact revenge for her own suffering and the deaths of her family and friend. The target? Her crush from age fourteen (I rolled my eyes at this a bit) and his powerful father. I think I'd have preferred it if Frances fell in love with Grey after she vowed revenge on him, but I went with it. The other thing that bothered me a bit was that Frances went into her revenge plot based only on the fact that Grey and his father lied about what happened on the yacht. She had no proof they were at all responsible, but they were lying, and that was enough for her to spend four years plotting their complete ruination.

Those quibbles aside, there's a lot that makes Daughter of Deep Silence a fun and compelling read. If you've read Ryan's prior YA books (referenced above) you know that she  writes suspense well. The flashbacks to the terror on the yacht were creepy and affecting. While I've found many YA revenge books a bit tepid, Frances is unpredictable enough that I was never sure how far she would go. I also liked the fact that the book included a character who knew what Frances was up to (I only watched one or two seasons of Revenge, but I thought of Shepherd as Nolan.)

ETA: Romance. I forgot to get to that. Yes, there are two attractive guys (Shepherd and Grey) but this didn't feel triangle-y to me. It's not a HEA ending, but more open-ended. If you've read it, tell me what you think either here or on Goodreads.

Daughter of Deep Silence was a perfect choice for my first-of-summer read -- page turning fun! If you're a fan of revenge plots or impersonation plots, definitely try this!